


Gem Universe: The Epilogue

by Elfwich, mystiilesbabe



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Flashbacks, Fluff, Jasper also has PTSD, Jasper redemption arc, Lapis has PTSD, Polyam Pearl, Self-Healing, Whump, mentions of abuse, queerplatonic shit, tying up loose ends, will add - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23454229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfwich/pseuds/Elfwich, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystiilesbabe/pseuds/mystiilesbabe
Summary: Steven's gone off on his own journey of self-discovery, leaving Little Homeworld and Beach City behind, and it, in turn, moves on without him. ---> Discontinued
Relationships: Amethyst/Garnet/Pearl (Steven Universe), Bismuth/Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	Gem Universe: The Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> After Steven's hasty and conspicuous departure, Jasper storms off to do some thinking.

After Steven had disappeared without a trace after a series of esoteric events that lead to his sudden return to the front step of the rain-battered beach house, the Crystal Gems, alongside their tentative aside, Jasper, were left behind to wonder just what troubles their beloved Steven must have been going through at that very moment. But, more for the statuesque quartz who stood apart from the rest of the gaggle, her mind ventured elsewhere, to realms that echoed as painfully familiar to her ailing heart.   
The gems continuously bombarded her with question after question about their dear Steven, their voices reduced to radio static. Just a few seconds ago, she thought she’d finally found her purpose, and just as quickly as she had found it was  _ torn _ from her hands. Her past was repeating itself, over and over again. Bitterness fervently burned in her abdomen, and in her face, blooming like a thorny rosebush around her heart, its thorns hooking painfully into her skin, reopening old wounds in its wake. The same question repeated itself in her mind, like a broken record, caught on an endless loop. Why did no one want her?    
Jasper bared her teeth, that anger bubbling to the surface. She was stuck in a cycle of misery and abandonment. She uprooted herself from where she stood and progressed towards the warp, just wanting to leave this stupid house, and all the painful memories encompassing it. She faintly heard Amethyst call her name as she activated the warp, sending herself wherever, as long as it wasn’t this place.  
  
The familiar dusty, baked wind of the Beta Kindergarten whipped her hair back and forth ceaselessly. The sun beat down harshly upon the deserted bluffs of the kindergarten below, to Jasper, the unforgiving heat was almost comforting. Nonetheless, the lingering hurt remained. She’d felt like this before, many times. Jasper recalled the same feeling just after she had unfused with Lapis, she had lain on the ocean floor for hours, gripping for any remnants of that… albeit painful closeness with her. Jasper ventured further, deeper into the sloppy, uneven canyons of the Beta. She found herself clenching and unclenching her fists habitually, her hands itching to channel all that hurt and anguish into mindless destruction. Jasper came to an immediate halt and lifted her fists, focusing on a previously splintered cliff face. She lunged forward, ripping an explosive, enraged roar from her throat as her fist made contact with rock. It split even further, cracking like glass, small pieces of debris raining down on top of her. Jasper repeated the action, pounding and punching and hitting stone until her knuckles were worn raw and aching. She dragged her claws across the rocky wall, leaving ragged, angry grooves across the red and orange surface.    
Every bit of damage inflicted on the shattered cliff face only served to deepen the hold of the thorns entangling her, making the pain hurt worse, far from staving off the beast of primal anguish rumbling within her. Why wasn’t this making her feel better like it normally did? All she had ever known was power, all that had ever stayed loyal to her was power, but her own might, her own drive to persevere was actively working against her. She was clawing through a vast and choppy river, fighting for her life, but there was no progress to be yielded. Why was this time any different than all of those countless heartaches before? The problem couldn’t be her, she refused to comprehend it! Every shortcoming, every failure inflicted on her pride had to do with the traitors imposed around her, fortified like a great wall encompassing her, blocking her off every which way she turned. It was them, not her! Them, not her! Pink Diamond, Lapis…  
  
“STEVENNNNN!” With a deafening crackle and crash, both of her massive fists, ignorant to their own wear and tear, collided with the cliff face. Raw power surged through the cracks she had created utilizing her own strength of might, and this force ignited tremendously, causing the entire cliffside to begin collapsing right in front of her. Confusion uproared and dust towered upward to block out the blueness of the sky above, and it was in the midst of this self-imposed chaos that Jasper’s own sense of self-preservation compelled her body, coursed through the muscles in her legs, and propelled her well away from the shower of granite and sediment that threatened to bury her. She was no longer going to concede herself at the mercy of anything, much less something so random and uncompassionate as chance. She was the cause and effect of her own destiny, and betraying anything else was weakness and powerlessness that she could not bear to shoulder.    
The overbearing sunlight persevered past the settling dust. Jasper inhaled sharply and sunk to her knees, a long silence following soon after. She shut her eyes, darkness engulfing her vision, taking in the smell of earth and dust.   
  
It felt like her only _ purpose _ was to suffer. To endure tragedy after tragedy, and to be subject to misery.    
  


**Author's Note:**

> this chapters a lil short but theres hopefully more to come. : ) i actually have things planned out this time so like, thas good. we wanted to address a lot of the things left ambiguous after SU ended, and this is the result of that.
> 
> -mystic
> 
> So we hope you enjoy what we have for your so far, and if you want more then just say the word! : D
> 
> -Phonsie


End file.
